Real Madrid beat Pachuca 3–1 at Bank of America Stadium, turning a seventh-minute red card into a study in control and composure in Group H of the FIFA Club World Cup USA 2025. Jude Bellingham opened on 35 minutes, Arda Güler doubled eight minutes later, and Federico Valverde settled the afternoon on 70 before a late reply trimmed the margin. The win, in front of a heat-soaked crowd in Charlotte, put Madrid back on pace after an opening draw and left the Concacaf champions staring at an early exit. For the straight ledger of goals, bookings and attendance, see the ESPN match file. For the wider tournament picture, our preview of the Club World Cup contenders set the stakes.
The scene and the stakes
This was Madrid’s second assignment of a monthlong tournament spread across American cities. The European champions had been pinned in their opener, which made Charlotte a test of nerve and shape as much as talent. Pachuca, winners of the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup, arrived with a clear script: turn the match into repeated sprints and pile volume on a defense asked to move and think at pace. The mid-afternoon kick, the heat index, and the compressed calendar hardened the edges. For context on format, venues and group arithmetic, FIFA’s tournament explainer spells out the expanded field.
A red card after seven minutes
Madrid’s day bent early. A straight red to Raúl Asencio in the seventh minute forced an immediate rewrite: the back line nudged deeper, distances between lines tightened, and the front three were told to choose their runs rather than chase every cue. From there the contest turned into a question of stewardship. Pachuca could have territory and attempts; Madrid would decide the temperature. The early dismissal, and how the European champions reorganized around it, was captured in the on-the-whistle Associated Press report from Charlotte.
Bellingham breaks the press
The opener was the hinge. For half an hour, Madrid accepted the trade: slow tempo, longer spells of rest with the ball, few shots but higher value. The move began with a short overload, a switch that tugged Pachuca’s block across the seam, and a third-man run that released Bellingham into the box. His finish was clean and cold. It also altered the math. Leading with ten men is a different sport; every minute becomes a rationing exercise, and every carry from your best ball-carriers buys oxygen for the next defensive phase. The former Borussia Dortmund midfielder played that role without drama.
Güler’s pressure valve
Arda Güler made it 2–0 before the interval, a goal that fit his growing habit of puncturing pressure. He had spent most of the half floating between lines, difficult for a center back to step to and awkward for a pivot to track.
Valverde seals it; Pachuca answer late
The third was the sledgehammer. A regain in midfield, a vertical pass into a runner, and the cool square to Valverde arriving on time rather than fast. That made it three and froze the tactical board. Pachuca pushed, found a late finish to mark their insistence, and kept asking questions on cutbacks and second balls. It was not a surrender; it was simply a chase against a team that handles game states with ruthless economy.
What the numbers say
Shot volume was lopsided. Playing up a man for more than 80 minutes, Pachuca stacked attempts and corners. Thibaut Courtois got the sort of workload that tests handling more than shot-stopping, and his positioning against low crosses was textbook. Possession ticked toward Madrid, which looked counterintuitive until you watched how they used it: to rest with the ball, to pull an opponent from one touchline to the other, to take the sting out of a game that wanted heat. Score effects matter in tournament football; the first goal rewrites risk and reward for everyone.
Protocol, allegations and a coach’s public line
Late on, the match slipped into something sharper. After a scuffle involving Antonio Rüdiger, the officiating crew paused play and the anti-discrimination protocol entered the frame. In the hours that followed, allegations were aired and statements requested. Madrid coach Xabi Alonso addressed the episode, urging clarity and zero tolerance; Reuters captured his stance in Charlotte in a brief dispatch. Days later, the case moved into a formal channel.
How Madrid won it with ten
A mid-block with a memory. They did not bunker. They stepped into a compact mid-block, wingers tucked inside to close half spaces, fullbacks timed their steps, and the first pass after a regain stayed on the floor. That last part mattered; clearances invite second waves, passes invite breath.
Two patterns, repeated. The first goal grew from a left-to-right switch after a short overload, a classic third-man pattern. The second came from occupation between lines that asked Pachuca’s six to pick a poison. Neither sequence is new. The value is in the timing.
Managing the calendar. The expanded Club World Cup rewards teams that understand minutes as a currency. Madrid played as if they knew they would need those minutes in three cities over eight days, and that a two-goal cushion is worth more than a flurry of half-chances.
Individual notes
Thibaut Courtois. The box score flatters nobody, but his read on cutbacks and the calm take in traffic were the spine of a long afternoon.
Jude Bellingham. The goal will sit in the reel. The more important work was invisible: carries into space that turned a sprint into a jog for the men behind him, and the small pauses that told everyone to breathe.
Federico Valverde. The third-man runner who appears when the siren fades. He also shuttled to shelter his fullback after the sending-off.
Minute by minute, the hinge points
7’ Red card to Asencio and an instant re-shape. 35’ Bellingham after the switch and the run. 43’ Güler finds the pocket and doubles. 70’ Valverde closes the door with a late arrival. 80’ Pachuca answer, an honest reward for a chase well run.
What it means for Group H
The three points reset the order. Madrid’s seven from nine ultimately carried the group and cleared a straight path to the quarterfinals, where the schedule gets narrow and the margins thinner. For Pachuca, the lesson is familiar and unforgiving at this level: plans that work in the middle third need a final pass and a first touch inside the box. For the bracket-level view, ESPN’s fixtures and venues board shows how Charlotte fed the later rounds.
The longer arc
Madrid will not remember this as a classic. They will remember it as a day when senior players kept the team inside the match after an early shock, and younger ones executed simple instructions under a hot sun. These are the victories that rarely trend but often underpin a trophy. For framing across eras, our ledger of Champions League winners and most successful clubs is a reminder of how often Madrid turn tense afternoons into something more solid by night’s end. And for a sense of how this expanded tournament feels from the ground up, rewind to our first-week piece on PSG in the new Club World Cup, a window into the logistics and the learning curve.
Key details at a glance
- Venue: Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte
- Attendance: 70,000+ (day-of sun and late-June heat)
- Score: Real Madrid 3, Pachuca 1
- Scorers: Bellingham 35’, Güler 43’, Valverde 70’; Pachuca 80’
- Discipline: Madrid red card 7’
- Competition: FIFA Club World Cup 2025, Group H
- Broadcast: TNT, truTV, DAZN
Match stories like this one are unglamorous until they are decisive. Ten men, three points, and a group that now behaves. Madrid left Charlotte with all three and a template for the rest of their summer.
